A Mexican restaurant in Arizona is under fire for its policy toward ICE agents, and their response is a masterclass in grace.
While businesses are rushing to deny service to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, Sammy’s Mexican Grill is extending hospitality and kindness. The restaurant is providing ICE with free meals, which has earned it a deluge of hate from leftists indulging in their special brand of “tolerance.”
Speaking to Fox News Digital on Tuesday, Sammy’s owner, Jorge Rivas, who is from El Salvador, responded to the backlash
“We’re trying to respond in a positive way, just because I know that putting more hate onto hate is not going to lead anywhere good,” he said.
“Everything started because a local reporter asked me that the offer that we have on the wall of the restaurant about serving free meals to law enforcement officers, if that also extended to ICE agents,” he explained for those unfamiliar with story. “And I say, of course it does, because they’re also law enforcement agents. You know, there are agents that work for the federal government. Obviously, working under the great leadership of President Trump. And they’re enforcing the laws that have been on the books for many years, the same laws that were enforced by other presidents like Obama, Clinton, et cetera. So they are not doing anything different. And for us to offer free meals, it’s just our way of saying thank you for being out there, putting your life on the line, risking your safety.”
Since that aired, his business has been flooded with hateful calls, reviews and messages.
“Many calls, we just say, you know, ‘God bless you, thank you, you have a great day,’” he said. However, many of the one-star reviews accuse the restaurant of having unsanitary conditions and of having food-borne illnesses.
“But still, after so many calls, it tends to get you. You know, when you hear the negativity and the insults over and over, it bothers you, you know, whether you want it or not. And also all the one-star reviews on Google, I know sooner or later people are going to start wondering, you know, ‘Is this real, are they as horrible,’ because they write, ‘Oh this place is full of cockroaches,’ or ‘You know, I got so sick off eating a burrito,’” Rivas said.
He also wanted to clarify that Sammy’s Mexican Grill’s policy on law enforcement eating free is not new.
“We have been doing this for the last five years or more. Officers have been coming over to our restaurant and, 90% of the time, they don’t pay for it. Sometimes they say, ‘I want to pay for it because I got my last two free meals. Last time I came here, I got free meals,’ so they do pay every once in a while, but most of the time they do not. So this is not something new that we just started to do a couple of days ago.” he explained.
Fox News also pointed out that Rivas has been a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump and has even unsuccessfully run for Arizona’s 7th Congressional District and the GOP gubernatorial nomination in 2022.
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Sierra Marlee is a millennial whose hunger for the truth in a world of fake news has led her to write. Marlee also contributes to BizPac Review.
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